


Broken and torn apart

by Anthony_Draws



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: I mean honestly, I swear I love Mike, I'm so sorry, What if Mike was alive, he'd be hurt af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 06:55:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10871442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anthony_Draws/pseuds/Anthony_Draws
Summary: Mike and Erwin are fighters, constantly fighting their own battles.Set right after Mike's 'death'.Birthday fic...but really angsty and sad and brutal.





	1. Losing Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday fic for my cute little sweetcake, Miriam.  
> Yes, I know, this is like the worst fic I could ever write for someone's birthday....and I am sorry.

The hairy titan had spoken to him, had uttered words, in his language, directly addressing him. Waves of shock washed over him with every word. They left him frozen, motionless. The image in front of him too foreign for him to understand right away.

And then came the pain, the agony, boiling hot, rushing through him, tearing him apart. The bitter, thick taste of his own blood made it harder and harder to breathe, slowly taking his air away, not even letting him scream anymore. No more time to understand left. No more will to understand. So all he could do was wait, hope that it would be over soon.

Suddenly, he was dropped to the ground, the titans that had just crushed his bones and torn his muscles and tendons now more interested in following the strange hairy one. He was alone. By himself, all the way out here, so far from the walls, far from any living soul.

With his last strength he pushed himself on his side, closing his eyes only after his legs were in less painful positions, his arms just somehow sprawled in front of him.

It was over.

 

++++++++++

 

Erwin knew what happened, he knew immediately. He had been the one to send them out there, thinking it was safe enough like this.

They had never returned; the entire squad was gone. Eliminated. Dead.

It was painfully obvious. It was his fault, his mistake in planning. And there was nothing he could do about that now.

His office was freezing, the air surrounding the headquarters tonight came from the north. But it was exactly what Erwin needed to stay awake, to think clear.

Of course he was aware of the dangers this job, even this life brought with itself. Of course he had always feared the day one of his closest friends wouldn’t come home. Silently, he even hoped to die before them, so he only had to remember them alive and well. But that was just a fleeting hope in a world too cruel for aspirations like that.

“I’m sorry, Mike.”

His voice was rough as he stared through the window, upon the night sky. Blinking rapidly, he tried to stay awake, tried to not let the exhaustion get the better of him. But the Military Police and the government had done their very best to grill him, making him hate himself even more for everything he had done. Not that he would let them know, or anyone else, for that matter.

It was easy to keep going if you could see your goal straight ahead. But now his vision was clouded and he began to doubt himself more and more. The past years had brought death and destruction, but always left him hoping, willing to fight on. Until now they had gone the right way, the right general direction, no matter what had been thrown their way.

Mike had been Humanity’s Strongest. To Erwin he had always been that, especially since Levi could barely be counted as a normal human being, after all he was so much more than that. Mike got where he was through intense training. Training of body and mind. He never stopped working on himself, despite arguably being on top of everything already.

Erwin slid down the wall until he was cowering, not bothering to keep his shoulders straight and his hips square, the way he had been taught.

When Levi had gotten hurt, he had felt the first crack in this o so perfect façade. They would eventually run out of luck, they wouldn’t live forever. No matter how honorable their goals, how selfless their ways, nobody was infallible. Titles were meaningless to death. Humanity could talk about strength all they wanted, but the mighty will still fall. They always do.

“I should have known better.” Erwin hissed through the cold air surrounding him. But there was no knowing better. No preventing things from happening.

“I simply wish…there wasn’t this much left unsaid.”

Erwin pushed himself off the ground and got up, back to his perfect posture, the empty eyes, the old mask. Because he wasn’t allowed to be weak. Ever.

 

The days kept dragging on, merely dragging him behind while he floated through false memories of Mike coming back. He could still see him, still feel him around. Like he was right there, in front of him, telling him about his day. It didn’t stop hurting.

Levi seemed to notice but chose to ignore it. He was above those things. He knew just too well how it felt and that it would never be easier. Words never helped.

Hanji was constantly being occupied by Moblit, probably out of respect. Hanji themselves would probably just straight-up talk about everything. But her assistant and squad member knew better.

The worst part though was that he was constantly reminded of Mike’s death thanks to the titans becoming more and more of a problem once again.

Each and every one of them out there, any titan he came face to face with could have been the one. They all could have been the one to kill Mike. To rip him apart and chew him into a pulp, or to swallow him whole. He would never know.

 

No matter how much time went by, Erwin never forgot about Mike, or about things that were left unsaid. Now though, he could only try to imagine what Mike would do or say. And he was so painfully good at imagining that. His voice was still so clear in Erwin’s head. The feeling of the big, warm hand on his shoulder every now and then was still there.

Even after losing his arm, Erwin could only imagine how differently things might have been if Mike had been with them. No matter how many nights he told himself to stop thinking about the “what ifs” and “whys”, the thoughts never left. They never would.

He would keep fighting, no matter what. For Mike, to make sure he didn’t die in vain.


	2. Losing Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike has to fight for his life, once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am - still - very sorry.

He lay there with his eyes closed.

Pain had swallowed him.

It didn’t stop.

So this was death. Endless pain. Endless visions of his own demise. Over and over. And his body kept responding.

Afterlife was just…darkness and pain. And regrets.

For how long had he been gone? Days? Weeks? Even longer?

Something wet touched his face.

His neck.

His hand.

So cold.

He finally opened his eyes, just to find himself coated in dry blood, his eyes swollen from crying, with the cold rain waking him up.

He was alive. After everything, he was still alive!

The blood on the ground looked already old from what he could tell, meaning he had been gone for at least an entire day, if not two. But even that was just wild guessing.

His throat hurt, coated in dried clots of blood, but hoarse from screaming. So he just turned enough for the rain to hit his face completely and opened his mouth. It was the best he could do for now.

His left leg was like a dead weight to him, no feeling left inside it, slowing him down. He would have to take a look at it later, but he wasn’t very eager to do so. So he just let the rain drip drop on his face, trying to ignore the burning the old blood and the water caused in his eyes.

Everything felt so slow around him. Almost like time was about to come to a hold. Most definitely some sort of infection making his brain slow, and gangrene setting in on the bites. He couldn’t see it yet, but his fingers were probably at least purple.

As soon as breathing felt easier, he rolled over on his stomach, trying desperately to crawl towards the house to give him shelter. Out here he was a sitting duck, just waiting to be killed.

His arms weren’t very responsive and his left leg didn’t move at all, so he had to also use his chin to pull himself forward through the now wet dirt in the rain. But that was his only chance to make it out of here alive. So he had to keep going.

With every inch Mike moved more mud was shoved down the front of his shirt, but he couldn’t do anything about that now. Even though he knew that the dirt in his wounds might get him infected even worse.

When he finally made it to the door, he tried to lift his arm enough to reach the handle, but his upper body wouldn’t lift off the ground even just a little. It felt like he was tied to the ground.

Whining to himself, whimpering in pain, he tried to move around enough to somehow push the door open. Anything to get him out of the rain so he could clean himself up and mend his wounds.

After what felt like eternity, he finally managed to push the door open, pressing in further with his face. It didn’t even hurt. He was just relieved that it worked.

His worst fear didn’t come true, luckily, and his fingers were not darkened. Moving his arms was simply painful from the wounds and from laying outside in the cold in one position for long.

Clenching his fists over and over to get the blood back running through his fingers, he tried to calm down and breathe deep and slow. Mike knew that he needed to get dry as soon as possible. His body could definitely not take any more injury or illness.

Mike sighed once his fingers felt almost normal again. His fingertips still felt somewhat numb and not very sensitive, but he knew the worst was over and he wouldn’t lose his hands.

Rubbing his hands over his arms he tried to warm himself up a little, barely feeling his own goosebumps with his rough and calloused hands.

His legs were still badly twisted and he was scared of taking his boots off, despite them already being close to slipping off. He had no feeling in his left leg from his thigh down; and he couldn’t feel his right foot at all.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled his right leg towards himself, slowly beginning to pull on the boot. His shin hurt as he did so, but his foot stayed numb and unresponsive. The leather was now only dangling around his ankle, so Mike gave it a quick tug to reveal his terribly perversely distorted foot.

He couldn’t help himself but cry out at the sight, raising his hands in front of his eyes and whimpering, then sitting there, breathing heavily with his mouth wide open and tears rolling down his cheeks.

The nail of his big toe had broken off, shattered and the parts were now stuck in the bloody and crusted flesh. The smallest two toes first seemed to be torn off completely, but then he turned his foot and found them still dangling on the underside of his foot, barely still attached.

His calf was soft and almost mushy, the muscles clearly destroyed completely, chewed until they were soft.

Once the first shock wore off, he decided that for now he had to assess his situation completely before doing anything else. And that included looking at his other leg, getting it out of the boot and then dealing with the damage done.

Pulling his left leg closer to his body by the boot, he shuddered as he tried to peel the leather off of it. It looked a lot worse than his right leg already, with parts of the boot pressed firmly into the wounds by giant teeth. Every now and then he had to shove his fingers into the boot to pull the leather out of his wounds from the inside.

To Mike it seemed to take hours just to get the leather out of all his wounds, leave alone get out of the boot completely. But once he did, he stared at the ceiling, afraid of seeing what had been done to him.

Slowly, he lowered his gaze onto his leg, immediately beginning to cry again at the view.

The bones from above his knee down to his toes had been crushed into powder, the flesh barely hanging on, purple on his knee, getting more and more black down to his toes. The gangrene would kill him undoubtedly. Unless….

Unless he cut his leg off.


	3. Fighting Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike has to go on if he wants to see his friends ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SORRY, I SWEAR I AM!!!

Sweat was beading on his forehead and nape, his eyes were blinking rapidly and his teeth bore into his lips as he held what was left of his sword in shaking hands.

He had to do this! He had to or he would die!

The previous hours had been spent with collecting items he may need, crawling through the house and retrieving his broken swords from outside. And now he sat there, in the middle of an empty room, surrounded by the most makeshift medical equipment, such as bed sheets as bandages and blunt sword ends as scalpels.

He wasn’t wearing much anymore, only his almost-dry underwear, having thrown the rest onto the chairs he could find so it could dry properly.

Mike tied a piece of cord around his upper thigh, hoping that it would stop the bleeding somehow, even though he didn’t exactly have high hopes for it. Then he took the first blade and held it below the cord, slowly putting more and more pressure on it.

The first cut almost didn’t hurt at all. But as soon as he cut deep enough for blood to seep out on the edges of the wound he couldn’t hold back a whimper.

He should have stuffed something inside his mouth to bite onto, but now it was too late for that thought. And nobody would hear him out here anyway.

He pushed deeper.

Deeper.

Hitting his bone just above the first fracture, he cried out, realizing he had to cut the flesh and muscle first and then saw through the bone somehow.

Trembling violently as he cut around his leg, deeper and further, he began to wish he had just died out there. Hadn’t he been through enough pain already? Why did this have to continue?

Once the flesh was cut cleanly enough, he took another, longer blade and began to saw through his own femur. It was almost like the bone tried to bend under the pressure, making things even more painful than necessary.

As soon as he heard the crack of the last bit of bone breaking off, he tried to pull his muscle and flesh around the opening where the bone had broken out of, then wrapping his makeshift bandages around the wound and loosening the cord slightly.

It was over. He had done it, had cut his own body apart. Had chopped his own limb off.

The leg lay in front of him, barely bleeding, smelling even worse than before, like it had been rotting for weeks already. But as bad as the smell was, he couldn’t bring himself to touch it, leave alone throw it outside. It was his own body part, though not connected to him anymore.

But he also knew that keeping it around would only increase his risk of infection, not to mention the smell became worse by the second.

For now, he threw one of the sheets over it before pushing himself over towards the table to feel if his clothes were drying properly.

 

++++++++++

 

The cabbages from the backyard had kept him from starving the past couple of days, but he was running out of food and sooner or later, there would be nothing left for him to eat.

His right foot was slowly healing, even though he didn’t have the necessary medical knowledge to properly fix everything. Every day, he would spend some time just sitting on one of the chairs, putting a little weight on his foot, then relaxing it again.

He was getting used to crawling and by he could use his right knee to push himself further now, making him a lot faster than in the very beginning. But he still eagerly anticipated the day he could use his foot again.

Sipping the thin soup that he had cooked from a cabbage, he rubbed his right leg gently with his free hand, still scared that bending it for too long might cause bad circulation. He couldn’t afford losing both legs after all.

Every morning and afternoon, he sat by the windows, hoping for another human being to talk by and maybe help him. Or at least talk to him.

He wasn’t the talkative kind himself, but he definitely missed human interaction. Sometimes, he would talk to the birds that sat in the small backyard garden, but it didn’t feel the same.

Whenever the silence became deafening, he would hum to himself, making up the tune as he went along.

Whenever the pain of his healing wounds wasn’t too overwhelming, he would lay in one of the old beds, close his eyes and pretend to be back with his friends, back inside the headquarters.

Erwin would work until it was late at night, so Mike would make his way to the office and tell him to go to bed, then bring him some tea when he refused to sleep. He would try to cheer Moblit up every now and then when Hanji became too hard to deal with.

It almost felt wrong cleaning the house by himself to the best of his ability, without Levi telling him that he missed a spot over and over. And he did miss a lot of spots. But he had to make sure the floor was in decent condition at least so he wouldn’t accidentally drag his wound through dirt. It already hurt enough as it was.

Sometimes, when the curtains were fluttering or the candlelight made the shadows dance, his mind tricked him into seeing his friends out of the corner of his eyes. It was worst during nighttime, when he left the candles on so he didn’t feel as cold. Without a fireplace, candles were his only source of warmth.

But as long as his wounds kept healing, he knew there was still a chance that he could leave this place, that he could go home and be with his friends again. So, he had to hold on, just a little longer. Even if the nights were rough and full of nightmares.


	4. Coming to Terms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are changing, thoughts are changing, everything is changing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I!!! AM!!! SORRY!!!!

As the weeks went by and his right foot finally healed completely, Mike learned to deal with his pain, even the phantom pain of his lost leg.

He had buried the cut off leg deep in the ground, hoping to never see or smell it again. It only served as a sad reminder otherwise.

The phantom pain in itself wasn’t half as bad, at least compared to the shadows of his friends still visiting him every night. He tried to shut out the flickering lights, but then he grew colder throughout the night.

He had taken up hunting as soon as he could. Spears were perfect to fish with, after all he had no lures to do it any other way. He also used rocks to sharpen his blades again to catch bigger animals. By now he had gotten pretty good at it.

Of course, he was fully aware that he would never be able to use the maneuvering gear again. It was simply impossible with a missing leg. But he was still a fighter, a warrior, and he would keep on fighting the titans with all his might!

 

++++++++++

 

The longer there was no corpse found, the angrier Erwin got at himself. The land was just too vast and finding a single corpse, maybe even just a single limb, was impossible, no matter how many men he sent out there. And they had lost too many soldiers already to deploy them just to satisfy his own needs.

It hurt so bad, knowing that no matter what, no matter how far he came, he would never be able to save those who mattered most to him. They would end up just a couple more names on a list of lost cases.

A knock on his door ripped him out of his thoughts. Seeing Levi step into his office made him relax again though. Levi had begun to knock on his door not too long ago, after running into Erwin breaking down from pressure. The situation had been too uncomfortable for both of them. Especially since Levi knew he couldn’t help in any way whatsoever.

“We thought you’d like a place to mourn. I know I do.”

It was obvious that “we” included Hanji and probably Moblit.

“Hanji suggested planting a tree. So we have a place to come to. And we could take care of it when we get there. ‘Draw new life out of a lost life’ or something like that.”

Levi’s voice was a mere whisper. So, he knew that Erwin was still not able to talk about it.

All this time, Erwin had forced himself to keep up a smile, to keep morale high. He had pretended it never hurt him. But the losses became more and more personal and he could no longer lock the pain away inside himself.

A place to come to, to openly mourn their lost ones. It sounded nice. Like a first step to get over all the constrained pain.

Erwin nodded, making a soft humming sound of agreement, before getting up and walking over towards Levi.

To keep going, he needed his head to be clear. His goal was still clear and the way to get there had been paved for years. There was no way he would throw that away now.

“Thank you.”

 

++++++++++

 

Mike knew he still couldn’t be entirely safe out here, but he also wanted to get home again. Every day, he walked further and further from the house, trying to find the safest path back.

By now he was able to walk as fast as he used to, the crutch no longer holding him back but becoming his support and even a weapon when necessary.

His hair had grown long enough for him to put it into a ponytail. And to help him stay warm at night. It was quite comfortable. He still carefully trimmed his beard with the few blades he had left, though. He didn’t need to come back home looking like a hairy, dirty dog that had been abandoned for years. That, and he still wanted the others to recognize him. Anything else would have been pretty embarrassing.

He chuckled to himself at the thought of standing in front of Erwin, having the commander just look him up and down suspiciously. Then again, all he had to do – probably – was to sniff his Erwin’s neck, comment about him not having any particular smell at all, and they would all know who he was again.

Then, suddenly, like a punch to his face, a new thought came to mind. What if they had forgotten about him? What if they had already ended this chapter of their lives and he would only tear open old wounds again if he came back?

Was it for the best that he was all the way out here? Should he stay out here?

He definitely had the skills to stay out here by himself now.

Staying out here might be the best way to go. To save his friends from going through all this pain again. Hadn’t he hurt them enough already?

 

Once the sun began to go down, Mike decided it was time to turn back and go. He would keep working on his stamina and get ready to walk back to the wall. The exercise felt good enough to keep going, despite his final decision not being made yet. Maybe walking to the wall was where it would stay, nothing more than that, not going any further.

Throwing his crutch aside as soon as he got back home, pulling off his one worn boot and sitting down on his bed, he decided that his decision had to be made spontaneously. Anything else would just force him to think about his friends being sad or maybe not being sad at all, would force him to imagine all the possibilities, all the painful “maybes”.

For now he would sleep, live from day to day and not think about the bigger picture too much.


	5. It's Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final Chapter!! So basically the conclusion to this clusterfuck of sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still sorry. But at least this one is longer. Yay?

At first, the tree seemed a little lonely out there, all by itself. But then the thought behind it, the general idea, spread throughout the Survey Corps. Now, more and more people began planting flowers around it, taking care of it.

It became a place to mourn, but also one of hope and respect. Especially the youngest members gathered around the small garden that had become of the one empty soil.

The tree was still fairly small, the trunk barely wider than one of Erwin’s legs, but it was growing and blooming.

Moblit had put down some yarn, paper and pens around the tree and every day someone hang new messages to the loved ones they lost, knotting them to the branches of the tree or folding them neatly and positioning them between the flowers.

In the beginning, Erwin had been scared of coming to the tree after everyone began to mourn their lost ones there. He wasn’t allowed to show weakness, especially not in front of the soldiers. Then, he saw Levi, doing exactly that. Writing letters, sitting between the recruits, saying goodbye.

Nobody had dared to say a word, but it was obvious that none of them had lost their respect for Levi, they even seemed to respect him more than ever. He showed them that he was just a human being. That sorrow was nothing to be ashamed of.

The following day, Erwin had finally allowed himself to do the same, to open up and show some weakness for once.

In the end, Mike’s death had brought the entire Corps closer together than ever before. Just like Mike used to bring people together.

 

++++++++++

 

Today he had touched the wall, for the first time after the attack. He had reached the wall, had sat by it, had enjoyed the feeling of being home. But that just made him feel worse about the decision he had to make.

Would it be selfish to go back, to force himself back into the other’s lives after they probably accepted that he was gone forever?

Out here, he had everything he needed and he had gotten to the house. By now he was able to move around the house perfectly free, the crutch no longer holding him back. He knew every inch of the house and he felt good being there.

He had repaired the roof, had worked on the walls and floor, had made himself at home.

It would be for the best to just leave the others be, to stay out here.

 

++++++++++

Erwin knew that the younger members of the Survey Corps were nervous, riding through the regions they had first come face to face with the Beast Titan, but they had to make sure that the villages down south were able to handle life the way it was now.

It wasn’t any easier for him, knowing that Mike’s corpse might still be out here somewhere, withering away slowly.

He had promised himself not to forget about his friend, but as time went by, he had to admit that the other’s face became more and more of a blur in his mind, that the other’s voice was no longer one he would always be able to distinguish from others. Memories were fading and he couldn’t write them down quickly enough, couldn’t capture them before they slipped through his fingers.

Levi had told him that it would be for the best, that it just made it easier to let go, but he didn’t want to let go. He never wanted to. Mike should have been with him, he should have been here, should be out of the walls, scouting the area alongside them.

But he managed to focus, splitting the Corps into smaller groups and sending everyone out before returning to the rendezvous point in the middle that night. In the meantime, he would stay there and help the squads setting up camps while telling two more teams about their exact supply route to get everything to all the villages.

Hard work felt good and made him forget. And Levi was quite happy to see him outside as well, noting that otherwise he would lock himself up inside his office.

Everything went well and the first squads already came back in the afternoon, but they were followed by a thick front of dark clouds, promising a storm, rain, and probably even hail.

They would be able to handle it, but for the squads that were still out by the villages, things might get a little more troublesome. Getting soaked in the rain was a minor problem on shorter trips, but they were set to stay out here for three days and there were no showers. In the worst case, they would have lots of people catching colds.

 

The rain came down as soon as darkness surrounded them, the soft pattering on the tents slowly turning louder and more violent.

Everyone had made it back, luckily, and thus Erwin didn’t have to make any adjustments in case of illnesses or injury. Almost a strange feeling, knowing that everyone was fine out here.

Deciding he needed some time alone, Erwin threw his green cape on and walked over to his horse, followed by Hanji protesting and Levi telling Hanji to just let him go.

“I won’t be gone for very long. I just…I need a moment.” Erwin smiled, trying to reassure Hanji that they would be fine, that he was still around, probably even close enough to hear them shout for him.

His horse almost liked the rain, liked it when Erwin allowed him to take his own paths as long as he went the right direction. He stomped through the puddles, shaking off the rain ever so often.

The short moment of peace meant more to him than he could ever put into words.

 

Just as he was about to turn back, he saw a flickering light in the distance. Like a torch, maybe even just a candle. In the rain?

Deciding to investigate, he got off his horse. Scaring whoever was out there off was not his intention and galloping towards a stranger was usually fairly intimidating.

Slowly walking through the rain, avoiding the deeper puddles and leading his horse by the leash, Erwin got closer and closer to the light. Through the thick veil of the rain he hadn’t seen the silhouette of the building at all, just the small light from the window.

Someone living out here was news to him and the building wasn’t marked on his map for today’s mission.

Telling his horse to stay behind for a bit, he slowly got closer to the house, fairly suspicious of what he may find inside.

Through the window he saw a shadow, maybe of a man or a tall woman, shuffling through the room. Then, as soon as he reached out to knock on the door, the lights were blown out.

Erwin stood there, in the dark, soaked from the rain. Had the stranger just not seen him? Had he gone to bed just now? Or was he trying to hide?

Determining that knocking would only draw attention to him, he tested – quietly – if the door opened. And it did. It wasn’t locked.

Of course, it wasn’t, who would even come out here to break in? There were no villages close enough for it to make sense.

Pushing the door open, he threw back his hood to see a little better. Then he went for the room he thought the window he saw the light in belonged to.

The door stood wide open, allowing him to look inside without a problem. His eyes were not entirely adjusted to the darkness inside, but he was able to see general shapes.

In the bed lay a man with long, blond hair that had fallen over his face. He was curled up in a blanket that was more patches than actual blanket and his big frame moved heavily with every breath he drew.

That was, until the man opened his eyes and sat up, so quickly it made Erwin stumble backwards, holding onto the doorframe for balance.

“You!”

The man knew him? How? Why??

His voice was familiar, but strangely threatening as well, making it hard for Erwin to put a finger on how he knew the man. Then again, breaking into someone’s house at night, especially one this far off, was probably very stupid of him either way.

“Please just stop haunting me…”

“Haunting?”

Erwin didn’t understand, didn’t know what the other meant, wasn’t even sure that the man actually saw him.

There was a moment of silence and then, out of nowhere, the man got out of his bed, holding onto the wall as he made his way towards Erwin.

“It’s really you…it’s you…really you....”

 

It hit him like a titan’s fist to the stomach.

Mike.

He was alive.

He was here. Right in front of him!

Only now Erwin saw his injuries, the missing leg, the deep scars from the bites on the other’s arms. He could barely fathom what Mike had to have gone through.

“How are you- Why- “, Mike began, but Erwin just smiled and wrapped his arms around the other.

“There is so much to say. But for now, I am just glad to have you back. And I won’t let you go like this again. I promise.”


End file.
